Tornadoes · United States · Missouri · 2017
EF2 tornado, Goodman to Erie, Missouri, April 4, 2017
From Goodman to Erie, this EF2 tornado ran 16.5 miles across McDonald and Newton counties on April 4, 2017, touching down at 6:48 PM CDT and reaching 300 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $1.1 million of property damage.
The rating scale
Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.
EF065 to 85 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
EF2111 to 135 mphthis tornado
Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.
EF3136 to 165 mph
Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
EF5over 200 mph
Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.
Unrated
The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.
The record
- Rating
- EF2
- Date
- April 4, 2017
- Touchdown
- 6:48 PM CDT (23:48 UTC)
- Lifted
- 7:05 PM CDT (00:05 UTC)
- On the ground
- 17 minutes
- Path length
- 16.5 miles (26.5 km)
- Path width
- 300 yards (274 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $1.1 million
- Counties
- McDonald and Newton counties
- Touchdown point
- 36.720, -94.432
- Lift-off point
- 36.912, -94.265
- Record number
- 1704041748-01
The damage survey
1 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS SGF, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The highest wind the damage implies is 90 mph.
Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.
What the Weather Service recorded
A strong storm system and cold front produced supercells across the Missouri Ozark with damaging winds and large hail. The were a couple damaging tornadoes.
An EF-2 tornado hit the town of Goodman in McDonald County and continued northeastward into southern Newton County southeast of Neosho. Numerous homes and buildings were damaged. The school in Goodman was destroyed. The tornado started southwest of Goodman and ended on the southwest side of Granby.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
5 minutes of warning. NWS SGF issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:43 UTC, 5 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:30 UTC.
The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 19:37 UTC and running to 02:45 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19:37 UTC | 02:45 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SGF |
| 23:04 UTC | 00:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | SGF |
| 23:43 UTC | 00:30 UTC | Tornado Warning | SGF |
| 00:16 UTC | 00:46 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | SGF |
Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.
The forecast that day
The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Enhanced Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 20:00 UTC.
SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.
The air that afternoon
The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.
Springfield, MO (KSGF), 12:00Z
11.8 hours before the tornado, 50 km from the path. April 4, 2017.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -75894 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1056 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 40 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 15 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 45 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 40 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 3.9 K/km
Springfield, MO (KSGF), 00:00Z
0.2 hours after it, 50 km from the path. April 5, 2017.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 326 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -51 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 793 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1384 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 58 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 25 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 312 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 743 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 1.0
- Supercell composite
- 12.5
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 6.8 K/km
The radar
The Springfield radar (KSGF), 96 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:45 UTC.
Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track
Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.
What was reported nearby
Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23:44 UTC | TSTM WND GST 50 | 5 Nw Anderson | Mcdonald, MO | |
| 23:45 UTC | HAIL 1.25 | Neosho | Newton, MO | |
| 23:48 UTC | TORNADO | Goodman | Mcdonald, MO | PRELIMINARY STORM SURVEY REVEALED EF-2 DAMAGE IN GOODMAN. DAMAGE TO THE SCHOOL WAS MOST SIGNIFICANT. SURVEY IS STILL ONGOING. CORRECTED FOR TIME. |
| 23:49 UTC | TSTM WND GST 80 | Goodman | Mcdonald, MO | 60-80 MPH WIND GUST WITH POWER FLASHES. |
| 23:50 UTC | HAIL 1 | 4 Wnw Neosho | Newton, MO | PUBLIC REPORTED QUARTER SIZED HAIL AT I49 AND HWY 86 NEOSHO VIA SOCIAL MEDIA. |
| 23:53 UTC | TSTM WND GST 70 | Anderson | Mcdonald, MO | FUNNEL CLOUD. |
| 23:55 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Goodman | Mcdonald, MO | TREES UPROOTED AND POWER LINES DOWN. |
| 23:55 UTC | TORNADO | Goodman | Mcdonald, MO | BUILDINGS DAMAGED. |
| 23:55 UTC | TORNADO | Goodman | Mcdonald, MO | PRELIMINARY STORM SURVEY REVEALED EF-2 DAMAGE IN GOODMAN. DAMAGE TO THE SCHOOL WAS MOST SIGNIFICANT. SURVEY IS STILL ONGOING. |
| 23:57 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 3 S Neosho | Newton, MO | LIGHT TREE DAMAGE ON SOUTH SIDE OF NEOSHO. |
| 00:07 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | 10 W Monett | Newton, MO | TRAINED SPOTTER REPORTED A FUNNEL CLOUD 10 MILES WEST OF MONETT. |
| 00:07 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | 4 Ese Ritchey | Newton, MO | TRAINED SPOTTER REPORTED A FUNNEL CLOUD 10 MILES WEST OF MONETT. |
| 00:15 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Granby | Newton, MO | TREES DOWN AND SIDING AND HALF A ROOF BLOWN OFF A HOUSE OUTSIDE OF GRANBY ON METTLE DRIVE. |
| 00:20 UTC | TSTM WND GST 58 | 2 Se Granby | Newton, MO | MESONET STATION E7471, 2 SE GRANBY. |
| 00:30 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 4 Wsw Stotts City | Lawrence, MO | DAMAGE TO BARN. |
| 00:45 UTC | HAIL 0.88 | Mount Vernon | Lawrence, MO | |
| 00:45 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | 1 N Mount Vernon | Lawrence, MO | |
| 00:49 UTC | HAIL 1 | Purdy | Barry, MO | EMERGENCY MANAGERS REPORT QUARTER SIZED HAIL IN PURDY. |
| 00:50 UTC | HAIL 1 | 1 Se Purdy | Barry, MO | |
| 00:55 UTC | HAIL 0.88 | 5 W Halltown | Lawrence, MO | |
| 00:55 UTC | HAIL 0.88 | 6 Nnw Chesapeake | Lawrence, MO | |
| 00:56 UTC | TORNADO | 3 Nw Seligman | Barry, MO | A NWS STORM SURVEY FOUND THAT AN EF-1 TORNADO BRIEFLY TOUCHED DOWN ABOUT 2 MILES SOUTH OF WASHBURN IN RURAL BARRY COUNTY NEAR FARM ROAD 1055 AND FARM ROAD 2265. A CHICKEN FARM WAS DESTROYED AND NUMEROUS TREES WERE SNAPPE |
| 01:00 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 Ssw Washburn | Barry, MO | CHICKEN BARNS AND A HOUSE DAMAGED AND POWER LINES DOWN NEAR ROUTES 2265 AND 1055. TIME ESTIMATED FROM RADAR. |
| 01:05 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 S Aurora | Lawrence, MO | AURORA HARDEES SIGN CAME OFF THE BUILDING AND FELL ON A GAS METER. |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2017 tornado in MissouriEvery tornado in Missouri since 1950Warnings in force in Missouri nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of April 4, 2017
2 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
What this means
Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.
Sources
NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.